This Week's Joy

This week's joy comes in having a day off today.
Unfortunately that joy has been minimized because leaving at 4:00 last night was not an option since I was juggling a lot of different things, and then ended up leaving at almost 5:00 and deciding that the best thing was to just go into work this morning and clear things up.
On the plus side, Monday is a holiday, and I'm not working.
So, my four day weekend will turn into 3 1/2, and I suppose that I can live with that.
Another thing that I'm finding joy with today is music.
Well, that's everyday, but today I think while I clean up the house, and find time to knit, I'll be listening to some music from the 60s.
Namely Gerry and the Pacemakers.
What a geriatric sounding name, don't you think?
Although I suppose in the early 60's when they started becoming popular the idea of a "pacemaker" was of someone setting the pace, such as a musician, or even a race car. This, as opposed to contemporary vernacular where we only think of it in terms of someone who is old and whose heart needs to be electronically maintained so it continues to function.



In doing my search for Gerry and the Pacemakers I just discovered that they'll be playing at Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls on June 1 and 2. Hmmm, my anniversary is on June 1. Guess where we'll be going, honey! (And I think that I might even bring my mother along.)
Today, however, having received a good inch of snow, there's no worry that we'll have any sun to bother us while we're crying.
Don't worry about me either.
I'll be inside catching up on my knitting and humming along with the boys who represent the Mersey Beat.

Now if I could just get Simone to move off of my chair.
Cheers, mates!

Dog and Cat Days

The dog (and cat) days of summer are upon us as we cruise into Memorial Day weekend, the official opening of the summer season.

And we're suffering already, and so are the pets. Here are Benno and Delilah try to find some relief from the already-oppressive heat.

Friday Kittens

Being a cat person I enjoy looking at pictures of cats and kittens, so when SN2 showed me this video this afternoon, I had to share.
You may have seen this before, but it's worth a repeat viewing:



Happy Friday!

Cats and Yarn and Birthday Gifts

My cats are out of control.
Totally out of control.
They are yarn addicts.
I came home yesterday to find that the yarn from my current project (in which I've dropped a stitch and am completely mystified as to how to fix it because I'm just not good at that anyway) was spread out from my room, through DN2's room, out into the hallway and back into my room again.
They are nuts.
Here's an example of something else they like to do (this is an older project):

(BTW, the plastic kitty is a good kitty, she didn't do this.)
On Sunday evening we all had to go into the hallway to watch DN2s circus.
She had taken some yarn (with permission, not like the cats) and tied some from the bannister and then some other from the bannister to the door handle so her circus animals could either dangle and swing back and forth or ride down the little zipline.
I set my knitting down on a table in the corner for approximately 15 minutes.
I came back and the yarn had been chewed through and the end was still wet!
Now that I've found their gateway drug, I'm going to have to keep my yarn under lock and key.
Speaking of gateway drugs, this is mine:
I love this stuff.
I can't get enough of it.
I was sniffing on it when I was driving down the road this morning and DN2 said, "You're only supposed to use that if you have a stuffy nose."
She's 8, remember, and I'm stupid.
I sniffed in her general direction, just to prove that I'm not all that stupid.
Then I inhaled the Vicks again.
She said, "Stop or people will think you're sniffing drugs."
Oh how jaded are our youth.
Enough about me and my addictions (and just don't put that bottle of St. Joseph's Children's Aspirin too close to me either).
My sister-in-law's birthday was at the beginning of the month and she received her package from us, albeit a bit late, but it got there.
Now before you go thinking I've gone Vera Bradley crazy, I haven't.
But I do think it makes for a nice gift.
And my SIL has done a lot for the kids, she and her husband are always very generous, so we wanted to get her something nice.
DH, DN1 and I all went shopping (in town! supporting our small business owners, not the evil conglomerates that run "Devil Stores"!).
Of course we lose points for shopping for the gift on the day before her birthday.
And then of course we mailed it a week later.
To Japan.
So there's another week.
But this is what we sent:
It's the new peacock pattern, and we included an eyeglass case (or sunglass case, whatever), and a small wallet.
She really likes it and said she can't wait for spring.
Of course spring in Tokyo brings rain.
Did you know that Tokyo and Paris are the two rainiest cities?
Well me either, I heard it and am not sure if it's an urban legend or not.
All I know is that when we were in Tokyo when the kids were teeny tiny (and there were only two of them) we have a lot of pictures of us wearing raincoats.
That's all for now -- time to get busy doing the stuff that earns me money.

Please Mr. Postman

Remember that song?
I'm of the age when it's The Carpenters version I think of, but who did it originally?
Anyone?
Well I know that it was The Marvelettes, but I only know that because I looked it up.
So the postman, or the UPS man, or the international mail delivery person delivered a package for me and look where it came from:I knew it was going to be good, because it felt nice and squishy and my first thought was...YARN!!
Look what was inside:
I just don't think my camera took good enough pictures so that you too can appreciate the hand-painted beauty of this yarn:
It is luscious, like a cold Concord grape in the summertime.
Okay, I don't want to eat the yarn, but I do like to rub it up against my cheek, and yes, I will knit with it.
Let me tell you why this package is so great.
Well first of all, it came from my Favorite Color Swap partner Chrissie.
And she's a smart, smart girl, because she is a very good enabler.
She not only sent me the yarn to knit either Birch or Kiri, but she sent me the needles too.
And she sent along a pattern to use with my fourth skein of yarn in order to make lovely lace bookmarks (now how does she know I like to read, I ask you) and she sent along the needles for that project too!
See, she knows I want to knit lace but am afraid.
So she has enabled me.
What a great swap partner.
A big, huge thank you to Chrissie!
Now I just need to get my act together and finish purchasing my goodies for my swap partner.
I hope she likes it -- you know that's what is hard about swaps, you worry that you could be buying more or different things, and you hope that they like what they send you.
Not everyone is simple like me, I'm just happy to get anything.
You know how that is.
And before I came to work this morning I did make sure that my lovely new yarn was put away from these little innocents:
Don't let them fool you.
They're Yarn Cats.